Posted 03/27/2018 4:25 pm
I've only peeked at the Cap & Ray auction, John... I saw your post about it. I have some thoughts; will post at some point in that thread.
A piece like this is a straight-up modern cast - detail is exact, so clearly done from an actual piece. It's TOO exact to be anything other than last 50 years - so in this case, it's pretty easy to at least rule OUT being contemporary.
I'm telling you, with experience, it gets easier. For the most part, I'll bet you're fairly confident in looking at a simple non-Kleeberg 2R cast and pretty much knowing whether it's a period piece vs. something recent. That comes from knowing what things should present as - genuine vs. contemporary vs. modern. There may be more variety among the genuine corpus to absorb w/cobs... but the same rules generally apply.
Also, the age difference can help, as it does here (in ruling out as period anything THIS "neat", quality-wise).
PS - That last point REALLY helps with Pillars, I actually think (in terms of terms a deeming a fake contemporary vs. modern), since the genuine examples are of such better manufacture than their predecessor cobs. However, they're still early enough where most CCs are quite crude and thus pretty easy to spot by said "fabric". Anything TOO neat in terms of engraving and production technique is basically ruled out.
A piece like this is a straight-up modern cast - detail is exact, so clearly done from an actual piece. It's TOO exact to be anything other than last 50 years - so in this case, it's pretty easy to at least rule OUT being contemporary.
Quote:
Cobs and pillars are almost impossible to call contemporary based on their fabric
Cobs and pillars are almost impossible to call contemporary based on their fabric
I'm telling you, with experience, it gets easier. For the most part, I'll bet you're fairly confident in looking at a simple non-Kleeberg 2R cast and pretty much knowing whether it's a period piece vs. something recent. That comes from knowing what things should present as - genuine vs. contemporary vs. modern. There may be more variety among the genuine corpus to absorb w/cobs... but the same rules generally apply.
Also, the age difference can help, as it does here (in ruling out as period anything THIS "neat", quality-wise).
PS - That last point REALLY helps with Pillars, I actually think (in terms of terms a deeming a fake contemporary vs. modern), since the genuine examples are of such better manufacture than their predecessor cobs. However, they're still early enough where most CCs are quite crude and thus pretty easy to spot by said "fabric". Anything TOO neat in terms of engraving and production technique is basically ruled out.
